Prophetic Voice: The Use of Malay in Seminary

I am close to a number of my colleagues, some new and some old friends whom I got to know 25 years ago. But one colleague who came and we sat together with another colleague over lunch said to me -  "prophetic voice". We were talking about the Seminary's direction since it was dialogue day with the English speaking churches. Both Basel and Methodist church leaders asked for my phone number and one said she would invite me to preach in her church. It is with a certain irony that I had never preached in an English congregation in the past 30 years despite being a local, a Sabahan. Mainly, because my ministry is solely focused on the Malay speaking churches but I am still amazed that none English churches have called on me since English is my first and primary language.

In Singapore, I had preached in 40 Singaporean churches and in West Malaysia, 6 or 7 churches as well during my six-year sojourn in Singapore. But I replied to my colleague, "I thought I came to the right place". In our Anthem, it began with a line that the School was started in the Malay medium which means we offered our first courses in the Malay language. Then, it went on to say "prophets we are called to be." When my colleague said that, I imagined that he was thinking that perhaps a prophetic voice was needed to be heard, but as one knows full well in the Bible, prophets are normally not heard, but they were mistreated and at times persecuted and killed. Ironically, it was presented that 90% of the churches in Sabah use Malay as the sole language and isn't it more contextual that in the Seminary we also should speak a bit more Malay given that the vast majority of our students come from the bahasa section and 90% of churches do likewise? 

I have written a 7,500 words essay on theological education where in the essay I argue that all local theologians must be fluent in Malay if we want to impact the nation as a whole. I was being generous in that I qualified that in saying the proficiency must be achieved by Sabah's 70th Independence Day in 2033, another 9 plus years more. In fact, the book was published as a collection of essays to commemorate Sabah's 60th Independence Day at the birth of Malaysia on 16th Sept 1963. Perhaps the essay is like a voice in the wilderness, crying out, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."